Korean Age Calculator (International Age vs Korean Age)

About the Korean Age Calculator (International Age vs Korean Age)

Enter a date of birth to see the three ages used in Korea side by side. The international age (만 나이, man nai) counts whole years from the day of birth and goes up on each birthday; it is the legal standard. The traditional Korean age (세는 나이) makes everyone 1 at birth and a year older every 1 January, so it is one or two more. The year age (연 나이) is this year minus the birth year, and is still used by some laws.

You also get the day each age next goes up and the dates Korean law ties to them — school entry, the voting age, the Youth Protection Act and the age of majority — each with its source on Korea’s national law database. Change Age on for any other date, or use the birth year alone. Nothing leaves your browser.

Common uses

• Answering “how old are you?” in Korea the way the law counts.
• Understanding an age written on a Korean form, a contract or a K-drama.
• Checking the age rules for school entry, voting or the Youth Protection Act in Korea.

The three ages and their rules

• International age (만 나이): 0 at birth and a year older on each birthday, from midnight at its start. Korea’s Civil Act (Article 158) says ages are counted including the day of birth, in full years — and in months for a baby under one.
• Korean age (세는 나이): 1 at birth and a year older every 1 January, so a baby born on 31 December is 2 the next day. It is the year age plus one.
• Year age (연 나이): the current year minus the birth year, whatever the birthday — what everyone born in the same year shares.

Before your birthday in a year, the Korean age is two more than the international age; from the birthday to 31 December, it is one more.

Which age Korean law uses

The Civil Act (Article 158) and the Framework Act on Administrative Affairs (Article 7-2) make the international age the standard for private law and for administration, unless another law says otherwise. The Ministry of Government Legislation’s unified-age page and FAQ explain the change: an age written in a law means the international age whether or not it says “만”, and pension ages and civil-service retirement ages did not change, because those laws already used it.

Some laws count by the year instead. The Youth Protection Act (Article 2) treats as a “youth” anyone under 19 except those who have reached 1 January of the year they turn 19, and the Military Service Act (Article 2(2)) reads “from age 18” as from 1 January of the year a man turns 18. The ministry gives the reason for the change: to end the confusion of mixed ways of counting age.

Birthdays on 29 February

In a common year there is no 29 February. Counting the year from the day of birth, the Civil Act ends a period whose last month has no matching day on the last day of that month (Article 160(3)), so a year that starts on 29 February ends on 28 February and the new international age starts on 1 March. In leap years the birthday is 29 February itself. The Korean and year ages, which change on 1 January, are not affected.

Birthdays that follow custom

The Ministry of Government Legislation notes that hwangap (환갑), the 60th-birthday celebration, is counted in international age, while chilsun (칠순, 70) and palsun (팔순, 80) have long been celebrated by Korean age — a private custom the law leaves alone. The page shows the date of the 60th birthday among the dates in Korean law.

Limitations

• Ages are counted in whole days from the date of birth; the time of birth is not used (Korean law counts the birthday from midnight).
• The dates in Korean law are the general rules of each act; exceptions, election-day rules and individual circumstances can apply. This is not legal advice.
• “Today” comes from your device’s date; for the age in Korea at a moment near midnight, set Age on to the Korean date.

Privacy

Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.